


a fusion of bending

by PersasseusJacksasson



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Ember Island (Avatar), Firebending & Firebenders, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Minor Sokka/Suki, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), Waterbending & Waterbenders, atlasecretsanta2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27738862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersasseusJacksasson/pseuds/PersasseusJacksasson
Summary: Suddenly, the stall in front of them exploded. Aang quickly thrust out his arms, throwing up a shield of air. Men started descending around them, clad in black robes and masks that covered half their faces, with headbands that read ‘Ozai’.“FREE FIRE LORD OZAI!! POWER TO THE FIRE NATION! IMPOSTOR! IMPOSTOR!” they chanted in unison, hands alight with fire.Some dialogue was taken from the comic Smoke and Shadow.ATLA Secret Santa gift for @hugeatlafan.Prompts:Something epicandSomething cool you could do with bending ATLA creators didn’t think of.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	a fusion of bending

“...and then guess what he suggested I do: burn it! You can’t burn a river! Why is that fool even my advisor again? And—”

Zuko was cut off mid-rant by a handful of sand flying towards him. It stopped just short of his face, before landing on his shirt.

“Loosen up, Sparky! We’re here in Ember Island to relax and marvel at my earthbending. Luckily, I don’t have any boring paperwork, and I don’t have to deal with annoying, stuffy people.” Toph teased.

“You don’t get it! All of my advisors are so incompetent, it’s painful. I mean, look at them!” Zuko exclaimed in frustration.

“Honestly, what’s with you people? I’ve known you guys for more than a year and you keep forgetting that I’m blind!”

“You know what I mean,” Zuko rolled his eyes. “I just want Uncle Iroh as my sole advisor.”

Behind him, Katara chuckles. “Of course you do, but I think he’d rather run his tea shop than deal with angsty teenagers.”

“I’m older than you, Katara.”

Toph stretches on the sand, grabbing a fistful and casually flicking it at the firebender. Zuko, who had spent years honing his reflexes as the Blue Spirit, instantly ducked. The sand hit Katara in the face, fortunately avoiding her eyes entirely.

She narrowed her eyes challengingly. With a flick of her wrist, the sea began to rise, casting a looming shadow over their resident earthbender. Toph barely had time to put up a weak sand shield before water came crashing down on her.

“Puh—blehh,” she sputtered, spitting water out of her mouth. When she looked up, she had on a feral look. She shook her wet locks of hair out of her face, grinning maniacally as she splattered water everywhere.

“Oh, it’s on, Sugar Queen!” Toph shifted into a solid stance, stomping hard on the ground and raising her right arm. A tall wall of sand rose in front of her. Katara moved her arms in a wave-like motion, and a long stream of water rose and surrounded her.

Zuko slowly inched away from the two of them, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

At this moment, Aang came bounding towards them, followed shortly by Sokka and Suki, who had clearly been making out prior.

As the three of them approached, Toph and Katara released their holds over the sand and water, grumbling.

“Hey, look at what I found! I was thinking that we could watch this together to bond and destress” Aang exclaimed excitedly. He pulled out a poster that depicted two men wearing spirit masks. “The famous play ‘Love Amongst the Dragons’, produced by acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, starring the Ember Island players revolves around—”

He was cut off by a loud groan from Zuko. “Watching that play would make me even more stressed,” he declared.

Aang seemed to deflate, and Katara shot him an annoyed look. 

“What Zuko means is that maybe we should watch something else. I’m sure we don’t want to see a play produced by and starring the same people as ‘the Boy in the Iceberg’.” Katara explained gently.

They all flinched as they thought about that horrid play.

Aang perked up, “Let’s head over to the theater and see what else is showing!”

They didn’t want to disappoint their resident sunshine boy, so they Gaang agreed.

* * *

They decided against taking Appa, leaving him and Momo behind in the beachhouse. 

They strolled through the marketplace, stopping occasionally to check out some trinkets. They had to stop Aang from buying too many bags of fireflakes, telling him that he could get some on the way back, because the theater didn’t allow outside foods and drinks to be brought in, even if you were with the Fire Lord.

Zuko and Aang both had their hoods on, a surprisingly effective disguise. It took a long time for them to get even halfway to the theater, with Sokka and Aang checking out every single stall.

Suddenly, the stall in front of them exploded. Aang quickly thrust out his arms, throwing up a shield of air. Men started descending around them, clad in black robes and masks that covered half their faces, with headbands that read ‘Ozai’.

“FREE FIRE LORD OZAI!! POWER TO THE FIRE NATION! IMPOSTOR! IMPOSTOR!” they chanted in unison, hands alight with fire.

“Zuko! The time has come for you to return the throne to the one true Fire Lord!” The man that looked to be in charge bellowed. “ We demand that you step down at once! Do so peacefully and no harm shall come to you, or your companions!”

Zuko actually looked baffled for a minute. “Let me get this straight. You expect me to give up my throne just because a bunch of thugs too cowardly to show their faces asked me to? And you’re attacking when I’m with the Avatar, the greatest Earthbender in the world, the last Southern waterbender, the strategist behind the invasion on the Day of Black Sun, and the leader of the Kyoshi warriors?”

“Well..yes.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Toph cackled. Stepping forward, angling her hands towards the ground. With a stomp, several men found themselves sinking into the ground.

Aang jumped on his airball and spun around the men, aiming concentrated blasts of wind at them as he passed. The fallen men were immediately chi blocked by Suki. Sokka stood at a distance, throwing his boomerang at an angle that knocked out several men at once while steering clear of his friends.

“Hey Zuko, wanna show them the new move we’ve been working on?” Katara winked at him. He smirked in response.

The air around them cooled as Katara waved her arms. She reached out to the water vapour in the air, turning it into a state of matter close to ice. A sheen of mist appeared around them. She breathed out slowly, and was pleased to see that her breath had turned icy.

She nodded at Zuko to signal his turn. He raised his left arm, rapidly heating the air around them. The air expanded forcefully around them.

He released a superheated blast that devastated everything around them. The men screamed as they ducked for cover from the flying debris. Katara created a shield of water to protect the two of them, while Aang, Sokka, and Suki huddled together under a bubble of air. Toph stood amongst the chaos, bending the pieces of earth flying about and laughing whenever it hit her targets.

Dust and smoke surrounded the entire area. Aang blasted the air bubble outwards, clearing the air around them. 

Several men were still conscious, struggling to stand with several cuts and lacerations. 

Zuko stepped forward. When he spoke, his voice was firm and resolute. “New Ozai society, this is your last chance. Surrender now, or face your Fire Lord’s wrath."

* * *

The city guards came within the next few minutes and arrested the men. The gaang left before they arrived to avoid the inevitable bombardment of questions.

They hid inside the closest empty building they could find, which happened to be a bar. Once it was made clear that the people outside would take a while to calm down, they decided to order some drinks: vodka for Sokka, Suki and Zuko, tea for Katara and Toph, and orange juice for Aang.

A few gulps in and Sokka had already become a giggly and hiccuping mess.

"...and I spent three hoursss apologizing to my reflection while my girlfriend just laughed at me," Sokka's words slurred together. He slumped onto the table, slamming his head down repeatedly on the wooden surface. Suki laughed from her position next to him, sipping from her glass slowly.

Zuko snorted. "Have I told you about when Uncle met up with the White Lotus before they reclaimed Ba Sing Se?" He took a huge swig of vodka after he spoke.

Aang shook his head, gazing at him with interest.

"They didn't recognize him because he lost his potbelly to break out of prison. He spent two weeks outside their encampment eating just so they would recognize him. Uncle was so offended."

Toph cackled at that, spraying tea out of her nose and all over Katara. She shot her the disapproving mom-friend look, before waterbending the tea off her dress.

"I am curious about one thing though," Aang said thoughtfully. "What was that move you two did during the fight? The one that caused that huge explosion?"

Seeing as Zuko was quickly following in Sokka's footsteps and was unable to respond, Katara set down her glass.

"It was a combination of both our bending. First, I cooled down the air thoroughly. Then, Zuko quickly heated it up, forcefully expanding the air and causing that explosion. We thought of it after hearing about it from Sokka, and decided we'd try it out."

Aang frowned, leaning back in his chair, "I've never thought of combining two elements in an attack."

Suki nodded, "When Sokka's up and running again, he can help you guys think up ways to combine your bending."

"Could Sparky and I work together to lavabend?" Toph wondered.

Katara glanced outside. "Looks like the crowd's finally dying down, let's head back to the palace."

"There might be a slight problem," Suki winced, eyeing Sokka and Zuko, who were both passed out.

"That isn't a problem," Toph declared as she stood up and stomped her foot. The wooden table jutted outwards, slamming into both boys' heads, startling them awake.

Outside, it sounded like there was a murder taking place.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! Please leave a comment or kudos! And yes, the thing Zuko and Katara did is based on Flashfreeze Heatwave from My Hero Academia, which is basically the move Todoroki used against Midoriya in the Sports Festival that blew the entire stadium up.


End file.
